Boulder Shelter for the Homeless administrators cautioned that a consultant's recommendations to reorganize the city's homeless services will spark future discussion and cooperation among service providers, but they don't necessarily reflect what future shelter operations will look like.

Any significant changes to the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless would require a change to the shelter's management plan, which was developed in cooperation with surrounding residents.

Doing so would require significant neighborhood outreach to communities that already feel like they bear too much of the brunt of providing for Boulder's homeless, as well as the approval of the City Council.

The report released Tuesday recommends that the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless turn all 160 of its beds over to transitional housing, instead of using 60 beds for its transitional program and 100 for emergency shelter from October to April.

The report from the Burnes Institute for Poverty and Homeless also suggests the Boulder shelter remain open during the day and house Bridge House's Resource Center, which offers case management services.

Ardith Sehulster, Boulder Shelter for the Homeless board president, said the organization takes its obligations to the neighborhood seriously.

"Operating the shelter as a 24/7, 365-days-a-year transitional facility would be a major change for our neighbors," she said. "We have a big impact on our neighbors, and we take that seriously."

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North Boulder residents organized in fierce opposition to the construction of a "housing first" apartment building at 1175 Lee Hill Drive, right next to the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, and shelter Director Greg Harms said that experience indicates any changes would raise neighborhood concerns.

Housing the Resource Center there might be less intense, Sehulster said, but it would involve a lot more people coming and going during the day.

The current management plan requires that the homeless shelter be closed during the day, after early morning hours for breakfast and showers.

Councilman Tim Plass, who attended the meeting where the report was discussed with service providers and volunteers Tuesday, said the ideas in the report are "challenging," and the city should listen to neighbors as much as to homeless advocates.

"I think we need to be sensitive to the neighbors," he said. "I went through 1175 Lee Hill, and I don't want to repeat that. I certainly don't want to force it down their throats. There needs to be a dialogue."

Councilwoman Lisa Morzel, who lives in north Boulder and opposed the construction of 1175 Lee Hill Drive — though the City Council didn't have any authority to stop it because it met the underlying zoning — said she hasn't read the report, but people shouldn't assume there will be a "kneejerk" reaction against more transitional housing.

The important thing will be seeking community input early in the process, she said.

Gail Promboin, a north Boulder resident who has been active as a neighborhood representative on homeless issues, said transitional housing for a sober population might get a favorable response from neighbors and have less impact, provided there was close supervision.

However, the idea of the general homeless population coming and going during the day raised concerns.

Promboin served on a neighborhood advisory group for 1175 Lee Hill after opposing the project and now believes it has the potential to be a good project.

The Boulder Shelter for the Homeless, she said, needs to actively seek neighborhood input, including from people who are more skeptical of its work. The lessons learned from 1175 Lee Hill, set to open later this year, could provide guidelines for how to design changes at the shelter with neighborhood support, "if the shelter takes it to heart."

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